Stone Cold
by SweetBriarRose96
Summary: It has been four months since they returned to the Enchanted Forest. Snow and Charming are trying to rebuild their home to it's former glory, but with an unknown enemy threatening to take over, they realize that they are in need of help. Magical help. They form a party to search for two of the realms most powerful beings, but can they find them before the witch does?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is just a story line that I had in mind for a while. This is my first fan fiction, so please go easy with me with the reviews. Enjoy**.

**Disclaimer: I do not OUaT. All rights go to their proper owners**

Prologue

"There is nothing here that fits your description, love." The exhausted pirate threw himself on the nearest seat in the extravagant hall, now cluttered from Hook's search. Cora turned from the window to let her eyes survey, yet another room in shambles and still nothing. They had been in the castle for three days, searching what seemed countless rooms in the desolate castle. Though there were many objects of precious value, not as many that resided in the dark castle but enough to be considered a fine collection, the white globe was not among the rest.

"Well, then we will have to continue searching, won't we?"

"We? There is no we here, all you been doing for the last few days is telling me what room to look in for some stupid globe!" Hook was then knocked back into the chair by a blast of purple magic, tipping it over and sending him crashing to the ground.

"I would advise you not to shout at me, you wouldn't want to end up as a toad or something less desirable would you?", Cora asked as she walked past Hook still trying to get his bearings.

"Well," he said as brushed the dust from his leather coat, "We could pay a visit to the lady of the house and ask again." A smile crept to Cora's lips.

"Yes. It seems we need to be a little bit more… persuasive this time." The girl would not give in so easily and Cora knew this. The feisty woman had a temper like fire and a resolve as strong as dragon scales.

_At least I'll have the pleasure breaking her spirit, _she thought as she and Hook walked, or in his case limped, down to the dungeons where the prisoner in her own house was kept.

A young woman huddle in the darkness of the gloom, wrapped in her cloak to ward of the chill from the dungeon. For three days she sat in her cell, listening to her captors rummage through the rooms of her home. Her bright green eyes darkened at the thought of that damned pirate and her thoughts turned to murder as she thought of Cora, the heartless wretch, walking through the grand halls of the castle.

The woman moved to stand up and walk towards the door. Caught in her thoughts, her hand brushed over a scar that stretched from her collarbone to the top of her left breast. She could still feel the cold sting of the dagger, the pain of it cutting her sun kissed skin and to make the memory worst she could still see Cora's face, a cold smile on her face as she moved the dagger. She had wanted to scream but the wretch's spell kept her silent, quite so no one would her scream as she would take her heart out the worst way possible.

She snapped back into reality when she felt pain shoot through her realizing that her nails had left scratches over her faint scar. She cursed under her breath as she went back to sit in her corner, scolding herself for getting worked up over a memory. That incident had taken place years ago and she was saved from Cora's wrath.

But now she was once again a prisoner to her. She looked down at her wrist to glare at the single leather cuff that prevented her from preforming magic. For all the days she had been down there she had tried so many ways to remove it. But no matter what she did the damn thing would not come off!

_If I can't get this stupid cuff off soon, I swear to the gods I will start chewing my wrist_ off!,she thought looking at the cuff as if it were a poisonous snake. _Gods if I can get this off I can escape, if I can escape I can save my love._ Just the thought her true love sent her heart flying, his deep rich voice saying her name and his liquid silver eyes looking over her face as he brought her close, his soft lips just brushing hers, daring her to make the next move. A few tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of him now, stone cold and still.

They had been on their way to Snow's castle when her love had heard something up the road a ways. She had tried to convince him that it was nothing, but he insisted that she stayed where she was and that he would check out the noise and the urged his grey stallion, Pericles, forward in the direction that it came from with his sword drawn. She had waited patiently on the back of her black charger, Nightshade, who began to act like he smelt something wrong. She was about to call out to him when she heard Pericles whinny followed by angry yell. Fear surged through her body as she dug her heels into the sides of Nightshade, causing him to race up the forest path the other had taken just minutes before. As the horse raced up the path, a vine shot out of a nearby tree just in time to have the rider run into it and send her flying of the horse who continued down the road. She landed painfully on the ground, the breath being knocked out her lungs and her head pounding. She struggled to get to her feet, but she managed to stand as well as to summon a sword. She expected her attacker to on her already, but instead of some unknown bandit facing her she stood face to face to with statue, who was also brandishing a sword. The marble face was filled with anger, but it was a face that she knew by heart from his distinguished nose to the imprint of the scar that reached from the corner of his right eye into his hair line.

_This can not be happening, _she thought as she started towards him but then her surroundings went black as she felt a pain in the back of her head. She had woken up later to find herself in the dungeons of her own castle with the one-handed pirate staring at her like she was an insect that needed to be study, and her worst nightmare standing at the door of the cell, her brown eyes burning with hate.

" I will save you my love," the woman whispered in the dark of her prison. Her hand crept to the heart pendent that hung around her neck. "I will save you, _Hades."_

Suddenly, she heard the large doors that lead to down to the cells. She was at the bars of her cell in an instant, in time to see Hook and Cora come in front of her cell.

One look at the her and she was back to considering gnawing off her wrist. _At least then I could hurt her. Maybe I could turn her into a spider, or a snail. I can just imagine the sound of her shell crunching as my boot comes down. Oh gods, I have been around 'Stiltskien to much. _She forced herself to focus when Cora's voice broke through her thoughts.

"I believe that it's time we have another lovely discussion, don't you think so?," she asked a sneer visible on her face in the darkness. Green eyes met the brown eyes in the dim light, both burning with hatred for the other.

"You and your pirate can to go Hell, because no matter what you say or do, I am not saying where the globe is."

"Oh, on the contrary, I believe you are going to tell me where it is, unless you want your king to become a pile of rubble."

"If you touch him, I swear on the river Styx, I'll drag you down to the underworld myself."

"That won't be happening any time soon with that bracelet still on your wrist. I have two days until my daughter cast the curse and I have no time to waste and neither do you. If you tell me where it is I'll let you go and you can go to your husband, I'll even provide a way to turn him back into his normal cold self. If you don't you can sit here and have the curse take you."

By now the prisoner's face had paled, but she still looked at the Queen of Hearts face, wishing to wrap her hands around her neck and choke her until there was not a breath left.

"You've left me no choice now haven't you, Cora?" The venom from her words made the older sorceress smile in triumph.

"Do we have a deal, Queen Persephone?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alright, first a quick shout out to AngellaCrickett for being my first reviewer on this story. Please read and review:)**

Chapter one

_The purple mist swirled around everything. Regina couldn't see anything but the thick mist, she had tried to summon up her magic to banish it, but to her dismay, the magic was useless against it. She stumbled around blind, her hands moving in front of her to see if she could grab on to something. _

_"Mom?" Regina's head snapped to attention._ That can't be him, _she frantically thought. "Henry? Henry, is that you?", she called out. Her eyes scanned the purple mist for any sign of movement. "Mom, where are you at? I can't see a thing."__  
_

_"Just keep talking!", she yelled, heading where she thought his voice was coming from. "Mom?" This time he definitely sound closer. She broke into a sprint, running blind through the mist. Suddenly it seemed that she hit a break in the fog as she halted to a stop. The dark mist now seemed to swirl around the clearing, and standing towards the middle of it was Henry._

_Regina was hardly able to keep back the tears that started to well up in her eyes. He looked exactly like he did when she had left him four months ago when she had cast the new curse. His hazel eyes were filled with fear as he scanned the swirling mist. He kept moving around the clearing, until he noticed Regina. Her heart began to quicken it's pace as she closed the distance between them and gave her son a long embrace. Finally, for the first time since returning to the enchanted forest, her heart felt whole she felt like she could smile again.  
_

_Henry, however, looked up at her with confusion in his eyes. "Who are you?" At that one question she felt her heart tighten, as she looked down at him._

_"W-what? It's me Henry.", she said, her voice breaking with pain. _What is wrong with him?, _she wondered frantically_. Why is he acting like this? _Then it hit her. He couldn't remember her. She made sure of that herself when Emma and Henry had left Story Brooke._

_He began to back up, shaking his head,"I'm sorry, but I don't know you."_

_The tears she had been holding back where now running down her cheeks. "Oh gods, no," she started to say, but she stopped when a black figure came out of the mist and was now coming up behind Henry. She yelled for him to run, but it was to late, the black shape grabbed him as he turned to run, bringing him into it's tight grip. Regina ran towards them, but as she did, suddenly a pair of large leathery wings sprouted from it's back. With one powerful move from it's wings, it took to the air, screeching and carrying a yelling Henry. _

_Regina, who had been knocked down from the force of thing's takeoff was still getting up while calling out for her son. Suddenly, the mist seemed to turn black and an evil cackle seemed to be echoing all around._

_"Who are you?!", she cried. "You silly fool," a low, but sweet voice said from the mist. "You should have learned by now, villains don't have happy endings, trust me." The voice turned to laughter again, and the now black mist curled around Regina before she had the chance to scream._

* * *

"Regina, wake up!"

"Hmm.. what?" Her eyes opened to be blinded by the sunlight pouring into her bedroom. Squinting her eyes open, she looked to see who had been stupid enough to wake her up. She wasn't surprised to see her step-daughter sitting on the edge of her bed, or her dense prince standing behind her like a puppy.

"Regina, are you alright? We heard you yelling and we thought you were hurt.", Snow replied quickly, her voice filled with worry.

"Well, as you can see I'am fine, I didn't need you to...wait, did you say I was yelling?", she asked puzzled. "Well, actually Snow was being polite. It sounded more like someone was killing you.", someone said from behind Charming.

Regina sat straight up to see near her door two more visitors stood watching. Still dressed in their nightwear, stood Neal, who she guessed made the comment earlier and looked like he was going to fall asleep on her door frame, and next to him was Belle, whose face shared the same look of worry as Snow. "How many heard me?"

Charming answered this time before Neal could make another comment. "Let's just say, this half of the castle thought we were under attack again."

"So what is wrong?",Snow asked. Regina thought about her dream and she felt the pain and fear creep back into her heart. "It was nothing, I just had a bad dream. Now," she slide her feet to the cold floor still clutching the covers to her chest."If you don't mind, I would like to get some clothes on and and I don't need an audience.", she snapped.

"Oh, um right, sorry." Snow stumbled slightly with her words as she got off the bed and headed towards the door with her husband. Neal had a thankful look on his face as he left, mumbling about getting a few more minutes of sleep. Belle had started to follow him out, but stopped in the door way to look back at the her. "Forgive us for intruding, we were worried about you.," she said quietly and took her leave.

Regina, still shaken from her dream and her rough morning call, wanted to strike back at the younger woman and just yell at her, but she held her tongue. Ever since they came back she seemed changed. Belle had just started to come out of her depression. She had become silent and unsociable and spent most of her time off to the side away from the others. Finally, she started to snap out of it and started to help in rebuilding the castle. She even helped the new farmers construct a new irrigation system for the crops. Still, even though the the others thought she was healed, Regina could still see a glimmer of sadness in her azure eyes.

She hated to admit it, but they all had wounds that they needed to heal, if they could ever heal them.

* * *

"When do you think think the west side of the castle will be completed, Grumpy?," Snow asked the short-tempered dwarf while she inspected the blueprints.

"Maybe within the week. We were set back a few days when the wolves attacked you know."

"Yes I know," she sighed move to the window to look out. When they came back they knew they would have worry about the ogres, but a month after their return they faced knew creatures. The wolves that had attacked the castle were bigger than normal and faster, and great in numbers. The other threats were much more elusive then the wolves, but that made the all the more terrifying. There had reports from some of the travelers from the numerous camps in the forest that for a few months now that in the middle of the night their camps would be raided by men in black uniform and their faces covered. They would take what they needed and leave the camp in shambles and the people who had tried to stop them were killed. Then there was the flying monsters that had attacked the travelers on their way to the rebuilding kingdoms. Like the black covered raiders they came out night, so no one knew what they were, but what she heard from the travelers was that they had blazing red eyes and when they attacked they had a terrifying screech.

Charming continued to look at the plans. "We are going to have to move faster," He held up a hand to stop the dwarf from talking.

"I know you and the others are working as fast as you can, but if the wolves attack again and they take the west wall, we won't have enough soldier to hold them off."

"Perhaps," Snow said with her back to the two of them," Prin- I mean King Phillip's troops would be able to help you when they arrive." The former prince and new ruler of Eleusis had sent a message not long ago that he was coming with some of his men to help Snow and Charming with repairing their home. They had met the young man once when they came to stay in his kingdom on their journey. To Snow he seemed that he was going to be a good King.

"Well he could of came with his 'help' weeks ago or came with us when we met him in the first place!" Grumpy shouted throwing his hands in the air and storming out of the room.

"Well, that went well."

Snow turned around to face Charming just as the sound of a bell rang through the morning air. Both of them ran to the window fearing the worst.

Just a mile outside the gate, coming out of the forest line was a large group of men on horses were racing towards the castle.

Snow smiled when she saw the maroon colored banner with the silver shield embroider in the middle. "It's Phillip!"

"And he has some unwanted traveling partners too," Charming said pointing to at least a dozen vicious wolves following the riders. He looked at Snow and the look on his face matched what she was thinking.

_Here we go again._

**AN: How am I doing so far? Next chapter will have a little more on the Persephone and Hades, and the introduction of the new villain. I am open for any ideas and criticism. R&R :) **


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